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Topic: How do you keep spambots out? (Read 1966 times)
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Kitsune
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2406
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I was just looking at the latest piece of stupid in the den when it occurred to me to wonder about how F13 has guest posting enabled but isn't completely awash in spambot ads. I went to some game's forum yesterday to research it after a steam sale and found the place was nothing but spam posts, at least a hundred a day, and every logged in user had a similar generic name followed by three numbers, just like the spam posters. Not a single real person seems to have posted in weeks. And that's far from the only forum I've seen completely overrun, so I'm curious about what's being done differently here that's keeping all but the occasional bot off the forum.
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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We don't have guest posting. If you see a guest, it means a mod has removed their account and flagged it for moving/deletion, they just didn't have the power to do so themselves.
As for their registration restrictions, I can only hazard a guess since it's been six years since I did so. Not allowing certain domains to register is a big one. Once spammers find an easy to acquire address (hotmail, yahoo, etc.), if it's not blocked then they can create endless accounts.
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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MuffinMan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1789
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If you look at our member listing and sort by Date Registered there are a TON of spam accounts. The strange thing is that hardly any of them post and eventually just get deleted in the Great Purge.
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I'm very mysterious when I'm inside you.
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taolurker
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1460
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Wasn't f13 the forum where you had to write a description of why you weren't a spam bot after you registered to get forum access/approval?
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I used to write for extinct gaming sites
details available here (unused blog about page)
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MuffinMan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1789
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Wasn't f13 the forum where you had to write a description of why you weren't a spam bot after you registered to get forum access/approval?
Don't remember that but I do recall having to send Joe a message to verify that I was "Acceptable." |
I'm very mysterious when I'm inside you.
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Rendakor
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10138
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Who's Joe?
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"i can't be a star citizen. they won't even give me a star green card"
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Furiously
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7199
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Who's Joe?
He ganked me in UO once. |
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Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737
the opportunity for evil is just delicious
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I was the admin for awhile for a small SMF forum (same engine as f13) and after several weeks&months of dealing with bots getting around the latest captcha I finally blacklisted a whole country and I'm afraid to say it worked. Overnight all the ad spam stopped and didn't reoccur. Sad but true.
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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I was the admin for awhile for a small SMF forum (same engine as f13) and after several weeks&months of dealing with bots getting around the latest captcha I finally blacklisted a whole country and I'm afraid to say it worked. Overnight all the ad spam stopped and didn't reoccur. Sad but true.
Russia or China? |
CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Krakrok
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2190
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Geo IP blacklisting China helps a lot.
Also requiring verified emails stops the profile spam you're talking about.
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Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737
the opportunity for evil is just delicious
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honestly guys? I dont want to say. But you can guess.
It worked miracles.
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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America?  |
Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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honestly guys? I dont want to say. But you can guess.
It worked miracles.
France. Those damn frogs and their fromage spamming. |
CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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